World Meteorological Day is celebrated on March 23rd to commemorate the launch of the 1950’s Convention establishing the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). The aim of the day is to raise awareness of the importance of meteorology and hydrology for a balanced environment.

Meteorology studies the phenomena of the atmosphere in the short term, at a specific place and time, in order to predict the weather. It allows us to know the weather in a specific place.

Weather phenomenons are natural phenomenons that occur in the atmosphere and, depending on their strength, can have a positive or negative effect on society. In recent years these phenomena have become more and more common due to climate change, however, they have been with us throughout history and we bring you some of the most striking in recent years:

6 FACTS ABOUT EXTREME METEOROLOGICAL PHENOMENA

  1. The world’s largest recorded lightning strike was 767.6 kilometers long. It lit up the skies over the US states of Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas in April 2020. It beat the previous record set in Brazil in 2018 with a lightning strike of 709 kilometers.
  2. The rainiest city on the planet is Cherrapunji, a town in India located 51 kilometers from the capital. It recorded the highest monthly rainfall in the world with 9,360 mm of rain in July 1861.
  3. One of the places with the most foggy days is in Canada. We are talking about the island of Newfoundland. There are about 185 foggy days per year. This occurs because the humid air cools, condenses and its small droplets in suspension form clouds that remain very close to the surface. It stands out because it is an area that is almost entirely inhabited.
  4. One of the biggest snowfalls in history, with more than 5 meters of snow, occurred in the city of Buffalo, New York, in 1977. Two elements were combined, snow and wind at more than 130 kilometers per hour.
  5. The highest wind gust speed on record is the one that occurred on 10 April 1996 on Barrow Island in Western Australia. According to the WMO, the wind gust reached 408 kilometers per hour.
  6. The heaviest hailstone on record weighs 1.02 kilograms and fell in the Gopalganj district of Bangladesh in 1986.  Hail is formed when water droplets are sent upwards and there the air is cold enough to freeze these droplets and turn them into ice.

To learn more about meteorology, climatology and everything related to these terms, you can explore our workshops here.